Chapter 293: 19 Why shoot?

Chapter 293: Chapter 19 Why shoot?

Li Yan licked his dry, cracked lips, momentarily at a loss whether to advance or retreat.

He had made his way here step by step, drawn by the sound of gunfire and roars, arriving just in time to witness a roaring shot beneath the sandstorm, blasting away a significant portion of the terrifying monster’s skull.

Initially, Li Yan thought it was one of the zombies possessing a sniper rifle, which, given what he had seen along the way, wasn’t impossible. But the second loud gunshot made Li Yan realize he was wrong.

The second roar, amid the thronging horde of zombies, cleanly burst the zombie leader’s head, plunging all the remaining zombies into temporary madness.

Whether it was the genetically collapsed bio-monsters or the ugly zombies belted with grenades and wielding submachine guns, none understood the principle of “the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.” They attributed all casualties to the other party.

Only then did Li Yan remember the sniper should be that old man wrapped in bandages; Li Yan had inadvertently entered his clearing range when he passed through the underground cave.

What troubled Li Yan was, supposing he had strayed into the hunter’s hunting grounds, he could hardly ensure the other party wouldn’t see him as prey. He couldn’t even guarantee that the other party hadn’t already spotted him.

In front of that “new king of the wild yaks,” the abandoned bus Li Yan was hiding behind was no different from paper mache, offering no defense like Gang Dou or solid ice.

Even a shot to the arm or leg would be an almost certain fatal wound. Li Yan could only eat the “Shunlian Pills” he had obtained last time to save his life. If the shot hit a vital area, he might not even have time to medicate before dying on the spot.

After three shots, Li Yan had pinpointed the old man’s location; he was on the rooftop of a three-story building, lying under a satellite dish as tall as a person, like an inconspicuous black dot among the concrete jungle.

To leave was not guaranteed safe, and to approach? That was even more likely to provoke a violent reaction—a foolish act. Li Yan just watched quietly. If that ominous and terrifying great gun truly aimed at him, then Li Yan would have to attempt evasion with “Hidden Flight.” Should things really escalate to that point, Li Yan was prepared to silence the old man.

Eventually, the zombie squad was mostly annihilated by the genetically collapsed bio-monster. At this moment, the rough and prolonged gunfire suddenly quickened its pace.

Bang!

A zombie slumped to the ground.

Clang~

The shell casings fell to the ground while the old man, lips pursed, was surrounded by scattered peanut shells and syringes, piling up in a small mound.

By his side, the ammunition pouch contained yellow, red, and white magazines, and at the moment his rifle muzzle pointed at zombies, he loaded a yellow magazine.

Bang!

The bullet mercilessly tore through metal and concrete; wherever the remaining zombies hid, they couldn’t escape being splattered with blood on the spot.

Before long, in front of the charred building frame, only the dying monster remained.

The old man on the roof slowly exhaled, audibly cracked a peanut in his mouth, took a red bullet from his bag, inserted it into the rifle without any hesitation, and pulled the trigger.

A blast echoed in Li Yan’s ears; his pupils reflected the bright red light as the monster’s head was engulfed in intense flames and black smoke, finally crashing to the ground and twitching from time to time, evidently not going to survive.

Li Yan remained still, observing the old man’s rooftop position using only the reflection from a piece of broken mirror he had picked up.

Something interesting happened: the fierce old man with the sniper rifle also made no moves. He meticulously lay on the cement, still as a statue.

One minute, five minutes, ten minutes.

The flames on the monster’s corpse continued to dance wildly. The two, over a thousand meters apart, one staring blankly at the mirror and the other with his eye sockets pressed against the sighting scope, both refused to leave or show hostility first.

Li Yan sighed in resignation. He didn’t want to compete in a patience match with the old man; besides, his position was too close to the recent battlefield. The stench of gunpowder mixed with the blood of zombies, which was unbearably pungent, made Li Yan feel uneasy.

He leaned against the abandoned bus and pulled out his modified radio from within his clothes. He forcefully broke apart the casing by hand, exposing the densely packed circuit board inside.

He then connected a plug to the socket, attached the other end to a capacitor, cut the copper wire from the potentiometer, linked the capacitor and potentiometer, and cut off the audio signal. He connected the shielding layer to the battery’s negative terminal, and finally flipped the switch. Li Yan cleared his throat into the radio.

The sound drifted far, clear enough even for the old man on the rooftop to hear.

“Cough cough~ Song Zuo, right?”

“Your Special Expertise: Magic Motion Technology (50%) has been activated!”

“Given sufficient parts, you can modify any electronic product, firearms, or even large-scale industrial machinery, but the effects are unknown and may result in failure.”

[Simple Megaphone]: A crudely made megaphone utilizing magic motion technology,

Note: What? High school students can handle this? Stop kidding, eighty percent of students in our country haven’t even set foot in a physics lab during high school. This is called Magic Motion Technology, yeah, Magic Motion Technology.

Li Yan’s voice spread out.

“My name is Li Yan, and like you, I’m employed by Kuang Zhuoma.”

“I have no ill intentions. I accidentally intruded into your clearing area. I also didn’t intend to interfere with your commissioned task and guarantee that I will leave immediately, provided that you come down from that rooftop first. It’s impossible for me to expose myself under your gun. Just come downstairs, and I promise to disappear.”

Li Yan thought his attitude was fairly acceptable and his expression clear, but unexpectedly, a loud gunshot greeted him!

Li Yan’s face turned ugly in an instant.

Is this a slap in my face?

Before he could get angry, a series of messy pistol shots came over, and looking into the mirror lens, Song Zuo had already disappeared, leaving only peanut shells and syringes scattered on the ground.

“Something wrong?”

Li Yan flipped out from cover; the rooftop was already empty, with scattered gunfire coming from that direction.

Without much hesitation, Li Yan, hugging the wilderness of abandoned buildings, leaped towards that particular building.

…

Even though Li Yan was darting through the shadows among the deserted buildings, keeping in mind the possibility of Song Zuo striking from the dark and not directly heading for the rooftop, it took him less than half a minute to reach the building.

As it happened, just as Li Yan stopped his footsteps, the glass windows on the second floor shattered. Wrapped with blood-soaked bandages, old man Song Zuo crashed backwards through the window, firing his pistol wildly into the building before tumbling to the ground and scrambling to his feet, coming face-to-face with Li Yan.

Their eyes met, and a disheveled Song Zuo, with hairs standing on end, abruptly pulled on a vine growing barbarically on the wire fence nearby, bringing up a large chunk of soil. He then back jumped, grazing his shoulder against the dirt and sliding into the alleyway, his arm raised high, he didn’t hesitate to pull the trigger toward Li Yan in the dust.

Bang~ Bang~

The old man reacted extremely fast, leaping back and shooting even quicker, unfortunately Li Yan was just a few meters in front of him. At this distance, even if there were several more Song Zuos, facing Li Yan, they’d likely be unable to escape.

Li Yan didn’t even blink, his body straight as an arrow, and in the blink of an eye, he collided with Song Zuo, his foot kicking into the soft flesh of Song Zuo’s belly.

Song Zuo’s face twisted with veins popping out as he threw up the bitter fluid he couldn’t hold back.

At this moment, Li Yan had no respect for his elder, abruptly kicking away the smoking pistol from Song Zuo’s hand and grabbing the old man by the collar to slam him against the wall, knocking Song Zuo’s vision dark.

Clutching at the window sill beside him, it took Song Zuo a good while to catch his breath.

Li Yan cornered Song Zuo into the dead-end alley, his voice harsh, “Why did you shoot?”

In fact, Li Yan knew that the old man must have been ambushed and shooting at him was a misunderstanding. But under these circumstances, nothing he said would make his stance clearer than “Why did you shoot?”

In that brief moment, a Chachik Military Sabre suddenly swung out over the edge of the building; the shadow holding the knife caught the exposed copper wire, leapt down from the window in one bound. Twisting in the air, the blade aimed at the back of Li Yan’s neck, his face half-rotten and radiating a chilling cruelty.

The whole process was deadly silent yet swift as lightning.

Song Zuo’s pupils constricted, “Behind you!”

Li Yan heard the whistling sound but didn’t even feel the desire to look back. His wrist waved back, and the Tiger Head Great Spear emerged out of nowhere. The Tiger Head Devouring Blade was raised high, the three-meter-long platinum spear overwhelming in its visual impact.

The zombie that charged down holding onto the wire had its knife far from Li Yan’s neck yet, but the spear’s tip had already pierced its chest. With a “thwack,” the zombie who made a dramatic appearance like Tarzan was impaled clean through.

“Psychic Mover?”

Song Zuo was shocked.

Li Yan flicked the spear, still staring at Song Zuo with a stern tone, “I’m asking you, why did you shoot?”

Unexpectedly, Song Zuo relaxed, pulling out a peanut from his pocket, blood oozing from his cracked forehead, “Friend, take a look behind you first, will you?”

Le Yan glanced backward and saw at least a dozen gleaming military sabres, zombies in each solemn khaki uniform, with pale skin, blackened eye sockets, and random patches of necrosis on their faces, gazing down from the broken windows above at him and Song Zuo.